Year 2- 22 September 2025 –Marina Del Ray – Gili Gede-Lombok

It was very quiet when we woke and there was little moving. Mark, Ruth and Janet had decided to do a snorkelling trip locally and left about 8.15am. I decided to stay behind to do various jobs. I packed and went through my cabin. I wrote the blog as I did not do it the night before. I then did some admin and finally I edited my best man’s speech which I began to fine tune and then I practised it a bit.

The morning wore on and it was quite nice to have time for oneself. I went to the office and paid for the mooring and the refrigeration men. I also collected my two gas bottles – filled which was very satisfying. The windless man came around 11.00am. We had played pool the night before and he had agreed to come and look at the small leak on the seawater pump on the engine as he was familiar with my engine. He came and we ran the engine but we could find no leak so there was nothing to do. This was reassuring and we will just have to monitor the situation.

Mark, Ruth and Janet returned about 2.00pm and they had had a great snorkelling trip which took them to three Islands nearby and had swum with turtles and saw lots of fish and they had a snack on the way back. They decided to have a rest. At about 4.30pm we walked over the hill of the Island form the marina to the village on the other side which had a good restaurant run by a Frenchman. The village was a working fishing village with lots of their boats ashore and with some women selling shrimps and squid. There was the usual mess of rubbish here and there which is unfortunately common in Indonesia.

We found the restaurant which had a raised terrace where we sat and had a couple of drinks and put the world to rights. We then went and sat at a table which had sand underneath so it was nice to take your shoes off. We had a good meal with some Bali wine and a cheese board which is rare to be able to obtain in Indonesia. The staff were very nice and we met Alain the owner who has been here 15 years.

We walked back in the dark and decided to play some more pool in the marina restaurant. It had been a relaxing day and sometimes it is nice just to be. We will move on tomorrow to Bali as I have to fly home the following day for my brother Jeremy’s wedding which will be nice and a positive occasion.         

The picture of the day is the four of us at the French restaurant.

Need/Opportunity Year Three

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.  I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com